Gold brooch with digger's tools

View this record on the National Museum of Australia's website

Type: Brooches
Date: 1855 - 1869
Place: Australia
Materials: Gold, Metal - non specific
Collection: Trevor Kennedy collection
Accession number: 2020.0002.0063

Description

A triangular gold brooch with a windlass in the centre surrounded by mining tools and implements, such as a pick, two shovels, and a sieve. There is a gold rope attached to the windlass which is wrapped around a gold nugget. The frame of the brooch is made up of branches.

This gold digger's brooch is a product of the nineteenth century gold rushes in Australia. Goldfields jewellery featuring stylised mining tools and nuggets was made as a memento and to display the miner's success. Significant pieces were commissioned but jewellers also established a range of common mining motifs from which the miners could choose to compose their design within a standardised format.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 5:24:10 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2025-11-18. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.